Former Guild president
led CWA affiliation
campaign
Charles (Chuck) Dale, a driving force behind the affiliation
of The Newspaper Guild in Canada with the Communications
Workers of America, has died.
"The Guild and the North American labour movement
have lost a great leader. Chuck Dale gave us everything
he had. All of the Guild mourns his passing" (on
Tuesday), said TNG President Linda Foley.
Dale was a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation employee
in 1955 when he joined the American Newspaper Guild
as an international representative, ostensibly for
a one-year stint. Forty years later, he retired as
Guild president after successfully leading the campaign
to affiliate with the CWA. He was instrumental in pushing
for greater Canadian autonomy within the union.
Prior to being elected president
in 1987, Dale had worked on behalf of the Guild in
Canada for a number of years, moving on to serve as
the administrative officer for the Hawaii Guild. He
was elected the Guild's secretary-treasurer in 1979
and served in that post until he succeeded Chuck Perlik
as president.
During his time in office, Dale was
a fierce defender of the Guild. In a Sept. 5, 1988
letter to The
New York Times, he took the venerable
daily to task for its Aug. 15 business story headlined
'Newspaper Guild Drifts as Its Industry Surges.'
"... active Guild membership reached its high
last year of more than 34,400," wrote Dale. "Meanwhile,
overall United States union membership declined by
15.9 per cent between 1980 and 1987 in the anti-union
climate of the Reagan Administration."
He went on to point out that, "Contrary
to your assertion, the Newspaper Guild has been recognized
as a pioneer in the labor movement and the industry
as an advocate of child care, parental leave, opportunities
for minority-group members and women, video display
terminal safety and health, measures to protect reporters'
integrity against compromise by their publishers, and
more."
Dale, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen, settled
in northern California after retiring in 1995.
The Guild plans to publish reminiscences, testimonials
and condolences. They can be emailed to Andy
Zipser,
Editor of the Guild Reporter.
(This is an edited version of an article that was first
posted at www.newsguild.org.)
Charles (Chuck) Dale, a driving force behind the affiliation
of The Newspaper Guild in Canada with the Communications
Workers of America, has died.